Subject: Random Adventures - Funniest Podcasts and Mental Health Hacks!

Hey Friend,

Welcome to your monthly Random Adventures newsletter from Story City. Summer is approaching the northern hemisphere with May the 4^th blazing by like an x-wing on the run, and cool breezes seeing our southern adventurers cozying up for winter!

As per usual we’ve got some creator spotlights and interactive reads for you to cozy up next to the fire with, and some fun, random things we’ve found on the internet that we thought you’d like.

And we do mean random.

This edition includes an app that allows you to plant trees, the funniest podcasts to check out in 2022, Star Wars workouts, mental health hacks, and free courses on storytelling from Pixar. Plus, we’ve joined Tiktok!? Who knows how that is going to turn out but please do join us for this very experimental ride!

Creator Spotlight – Writer, Shaun Hunter

The author of award nominated essay, Skin Deep, Shaun Hunter has written many words for young readers, literary magazines, and The Globe and Mail among others. And did we mention she has a stellar Calgary-centric Twitter too?

Not only is this local literary sleuth giving an in-person Literary Walk of Elbow Park for Historic Calgary Week, she's responsible for Calgary’s very first historical walking tour, Six Literary Landmarks on Stephen Avenue, on the Story City App! This tour will give you a taste of the city’s surprising literary culture from the 1880s to contemporary time in Calgary’s Stephen Avenue. Download the App and head over to Thomson Bros Block to start your historical walking tour!! Or hit it up in Spoiler Mode from the comfort of your home.

Creator Spotlight – Performer & Artist, Mackenzie Brown

Mackenzie Brown is an award-winning performer, drummer, tourism entrepreneur, philanthropist, and advocate for at-risk youth in Edmonton. A big congratulations to Mackenzie for recently getting selected to create a mural on the University of Calgary’s Foothill campus with 3 other amazing indigenous artists! You can explore her art and music at Instagram and Facebook.

She is a creator of Connection, a musical experience through the Indigenous Art Park in Edmonton’s River Valley on the Story City App. Will you join Mackenzie to connect with yourself and the land that has been the home for many indigenous people from time immemorial? Download the App and take the entire experience/journey in person, or enjoy this gorgeous performance via Spoiler Mode from the comfort of your home! 

Random Things We Found That We Think You’ll Like

Apps We Love

Forest - Get Off Your Phone, Plant Some Trees

This user-friendly app allows you to become less dependent on your phone by setting the desired number of minutes the app will lock your screen for, then taking that screen-free time to grow you a digital tree instead! We love that it allows you to earn coins that you can use to plant real trees in Africa.

Creators We’re Diggn’

The Duolingo TikTok is the BEST PART OF OUR WEEK

No seriously, we’ve been diving into TikTok recently, and the Duolingo account is hilarious. You know Duolingo? The free language learning app? If you don’t, and you follow this account, you will soon be using it addictively like the rest of us.

Funniest Podcasts to Add to Your Week

Laughter is the best therapy (we think!). If you’re looking to add a pinch of humor in your daily diet, this article gives the list of some of the funniest podcasts you might want to listen to.

The Metis Hip Hop Crew You Need In Your Life

The Ivan Flett Memorial Dancers are three siblings from Manitoba who mix traditional Metis dance traditions with hip hop. Check them out here! And also here.

Learn Storytelling From Pixar For Free!

We love the Khan Academy for killer free courses on almost anything from the world’s greatest teachers. Like this one created with the team at Pixar on storytelling.

May is Mental Health Month

The Star Wars Workout You Never Knew You Needed

In the post pandemic era, one thing we have realized is that health is wealth. And part of good mental health (at least, what we’ve found) is an exercise regimen you can get behind – like this Star Wars themed workout, or this Zombie themed fitness app!

5 Hacks to Improve Your Mental Health in May

We get it, sometimes mental health is a huge molehill, and you just need a list of simple stuff to try. We got you!

We All Need A Win Sometimes

This awesome piece from Donald Papp at Hackday is on how hacking together simple wins can make all the difference in happiness levels.

Hey adventures… Do you have an awesome random cool thing on the internet you think should get featured in our next Newsletter? Feel free to write us an email and we will give you a shout out for the suggestion in the coming Newsletters.

Your Questions, Answered!

This week's question: I want to make my own adventures, but I’ve never done this before...

That’s cool, you’re an adventurer and a creator! You don’t need to be a professional “creator” *cue finger quotes*, you can just create for your family, your special anniversary, or your community.

It’s super easy to use the Story City creator tools to make stories in your city (check out the demo of our simple tools here). In fact, we’ve made it even simpler by creating some story templates that you can literally use to pre-populate your first story, all you have to do is fill in the blanks. We have templates for scavenger hunts, puzzle trails, fitness experiences, history/nature trails, branching narratives and simple linear adventures.

Just sign up for an account here and follow the prompts to become a creator.

We look forward to bringing you more fun and interesting topics in our next newsletter, until then, we hope your month is full of adventures!  

Warmly,

The Story City Team